How much food do chickens need?
How much to feed chickens per day
A regular question that we get from new chicken keepers is “How much food do chickens need?”
The simple answer is that your chickens should have unlimited access to a high-quality complete feed. Giving your chickens unlimited access to feed lets them eat what they need to stay healthy and to avoid pecking order issues where the more dominant birds would eat more feed than less dominant ones.
On average, an adult chicken eats about 120 grams (0.12 kg) of feed per day. This amount can vary based on the chicken's age, breed, and whether it's a laying hen or chick.
Using a good feeder can help reduce waste and ensure your flock gets the right amount of food. Check out our Dine-A-Chook chicken feeders to make feeding your chickens easier.
How much do chickens eat?
Most chickens will eat about 120 g of complete feed per day. If their food is less nutritious, for example a grain mix or table scraps, they will often eat more because they are trying to get enough of the essentials that their diet is lacking. In these cases, it's a good idea to supplement their diet with Mega Mineral supplement.
Because a complete feed contains exactly the right amount of protein, energy and other nutrients, chickens can regulate their own intake and eat the right amount for them.
The exact amount your chickens eat will vary depending on age and breed, and whether they are laying or moulting. How much your chickens forage and what else they might be eating, such as scraps or treats, also influences how much feed they consume. Even the weather will influence how much chickens eat.
How much to feed chickens per day in grams or kilograms
To give you a better idea, here's how much feed you might need based on the size of your flock:
- Per chicken per day: 120 grams (0.12 kg)
- Flock of 5 chickens: 600 grams (0.6 kg)
- Flock of 10 hickens: 1.2 kg
Remember, these are approximate amounts. Your chickens might eat a little more or less depending on various factors.
Factors that affect how much chickens eat
Several things can influence how much your chickens eat:
- Age: Younger chicks eat less than adults, but as they grow, their appetite increases.
- Breed: Larger breeds may eat more than smaller ones.
- Laying status: Hens that are laying eggs often need more energy and might eat a bit more.
- Weather: In colder weather, chickens eat more to keep warm.
- Activity level: Chickens that free-range and forage might eat less feed because they're finding food on their own.
How much feed do laying hens need?
Laying hens generally need about 120 grams of layer feed each day to stay healthy and keep producing eggs regularly. They need the extra nutrients found in layer feed to support egg production. If you're interested in the best feed for your laying hens, you can find more information here.
How much feed do roosters need?
Roosters eat about the same amount as hens, which is roughly 120 grams per day. However, they don't require the extra calcium that's in layer feed. Feeding them a general poultry feed without the added calcium is usually the way to go.
How much feed do chicks need?
Chicks start by eating about 25 grams per day. As they grow, their appetite increases. They need a special starter feed that's higher in protein to help them grow up strong and healthy. Make sure to provide them with chick starter feed until they're old enough to switch to regular feed.
How do chickens know how much to eat?
Like many animals, most chickens know how much food is good for them. If they have unlimited access to a complete feed in pellet or mash form, your chickens will eat exactly what they need to thrive.
But like people, chickens are programmed to preference high-energy foods when they are available. This would have helped them survive in the wild, where they had to forage for their food.
In the modern chicken coop, high-energy foods are often low in protein or high in fat; examples include bread and grains as well as most cooked or processed foods. That's why chickens that eat a lot of scraps can have poor nutrition or become obese: they fill up on high-energy foods and neglect their feed.
Grain mix feeds pose a similar problem as chickens choose to fill up on their favourite ingredients, which are usually fatty sunflower seeds or carbohydrate-rich corn kernels.
A chicken that eats too much and becomes unhealthy on a high-quality pellet diet is extremely rare.
How much food to give your chickens
Giving your chickens unlimited access to their feed is the best choice for most flocks. This allows for differences in feed consumption from the average 120 grams per bird per day.
In order to prevent your birds from gorging on less healthy food and neglecting their feed, you should never give your birds more scraps than they can eat in 20 minutes or so. You should also avoid high-energy, high-fat scraps and treats for the most part.
If you were going to supplement your feed with grains or pulses, considering the protein and carbohydrate content of the feed addition would allow you to calculate exactly how much of it is good for your chickens.
It is a common misconception that chickens can live on scraps and foraging, supplemented with a little grain. While this may have been true of barnyard chickens in the past, modern chicken breeds need a more complete and balanced diet.
Do chickens with unlimited feed eat more?
In reality, limiting the amount of feed that you give your chickens is unlikely to make them eat less.
Unless you feed each bird individually, dominant birds will eat the same amount and only birds that are lower in the pecking order will eat less. This impacts the health and productivity of lower-ranking birds.
Some people believe limiting the amount of feed makes chickens forage more. But forage doesn't have the same nutritional value as feed. And more dominant birds will still eat more.
5 reasons why chickens need unlimited access to a complete feed
- Chickens confined to any sort of run or yard do not have access to enough fresh forage each day. This is particularly true of protein, as even a large area is quickly depleted of insects if it is foraged on a daily basis.
- Most chickens forage in a domesticated environment - either a backyard or maybe a on a farm. There are fewer fruiting plants and insects available than in a wild environment, meaning less protein and fewer calories.
- Chicken keepers in Australia today do not usually cull their chickens. This means birds live longer and in order to remain productive in old age (which is anything over 2 years for an ISA Brown, for example), birds need to have optimum nutrition.
- Chickens today are highly productive, with many breeds laying 300+ eggs a year at their most productive. This level of production requires ideal nutrition.
- Chickens are better foragers when raised by a mother hen who can teach them where and how to look for food. So few chickens have that sort of education, making it harder for them to survive on a limited diet.
The importance of a good feeder
Using a good feeder can make a big difference in your chicken-keeping experience. It helps reduce feed waste, keeps pests away, and ensures your chickens get the right amount of feed without making a mess. A feeder from Dine-A-Chook can simplify your feeding routine and make life easier for you and your chickens.
Happy chicken keeping!
Rachael at Dine a Chook Australia
